Wake Up
by LL2473
Summary: Stella and Kelly argue about the time he is spending with Renee which could lead to dire circumstances for Stella. #ChicagoFire #Stella #StellaKidd #Kelly #Severide #Stellaride First attempt at an original story. Thank you for all the feedback! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Wake up, Stella. Stella, wake up. Wake up.

Who was talking and why were they so far away. It sounded like they were calling her from a long tunnel, with the sound of her name echoing off the sides.

Wake up, Stella. Wake up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The fight Kelly and Stella had earlier today was still fresh in his mind. "Why is she acting like this? Why is she so insecure." He thought.

He had been working with Renee for a few weeks, acting as a fire expert in the lawsuit she was handling. Initially, he hadn't even wanted to do it, but Stella encouraged him and in the end, if he had a chance to help fellow firefighters, we would every time. The case was time consuming and as an expert, he had to review all the evidence Renee had to look for any holes or inconsistencies regarding what happened during that oil refinery fire. This last week, he had helped in a recreation of the fire. He was working with Renee every spare moment he had as they got closer to the trial date. He thought Stella understood. He was wrong.

Kelly was the first to admit, he wasn't putting much effort into his relationship with Stella these days. There were cancelled dinners, forgotten plans and a lot of missed calls and texts. He could understand why she was angry but she had practically pushed him into doing this and it was important. He hadn't expected to spend evenings and weekends with Renee...and her son...in her apartment, but that couldn't be helped.

When he got home that night, or rather 1:30 in the morning, Stella was sitting on his couch. The look on her face was not one of happiness and as the argument started, he knew it was going to be an even longer night.

"What I didn't realize was that it would be cutting so much into "our" time, Kelly. The only time I've seen you these past few weeks is on shift. And what I didn't realize is that so much of that time spent with her and not me would be at her apartment, at night." she said, frustrated.

Kelly tried to make her understand. "Stella, she's working in the case during the day so evenings are the only time we can work on the stuff she's gathered. We work at her house because she doesn't have a babysitter."

"Right. Because in the entire city of Chicago, there isn't one 15 year old girl who could watch her kid for a few hours a night." Stella fired back.

"Stella, you're overreacting."

"Maybe. But I don't think so. You were involved with her and she was so hung up on you that she tried to convince you that she was pregnant with your kid and now she's using that kid to get her hooks into you." As soon as he said the last sentence, Stella realized how insecure she sounded. Maybe it was just work related and nothing was going on. Maybe it wasn't insecurity but jealousy that Renee got to spend all this time with Kelly him while Stella had been relegated to the back burner.

"That's not fair, Stella. Renee messed up but she's not using her son to keep me around. Yes he's there and yes I spend some time with him but most of the time, Renee and I are elbow deep in investigation reports and witness statements. Nothing is going on." Kelly was getting frustrated with this conversation and he was exhausted. He just wanted to go to bed.

"Ok, Kelly. Whatever you say." She grabbed her purse and headed for the door. "By the way, you clearly forgot that you had invited me over for dinner and then ignored my texts all night. The dinner I picked up is in the fridge. Enjoy." She opened the door. "Maybe you can take it to Renee's tomorrow and have a nice family dinner." She walked out the door.

This was the last thing he needed. But she was right. He fucked up. He had invited her over for dinner and the Blackhawks game but then Renee had called and said she had found some new evidence that he needed to review right away. With that, he was out the door, and the invitation he had extended completely forgotten.


	3. Chapter 3

Stella tried to open her eyes. They felt like they were glued shut. She was trying to wake up, but she felt drugged like she couldn't wake up no matter how much she tried. And there was a dull pain, all over her body. She was just so tired. She just wanted to stay asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Kelly woke the next morning, late.

"Shit," he said when he realized he had slept through his alarm. He was going to drag ass into work with 4 hours of sleep. It wasn't going to be pretty.

He was also not looking forward to seeing Stella. That was a first. Since she started working there a few years ago, he had looked forward to seeing her at the start of every shift. He didn't want to fight with her. She had every right to be pissed, but he had hoped she would be more understanding. He knew he wasn't helping by forgetting their dinner plans and blowing her off, however unintentionally it was. He also knew this has been going on for weeks...that he had been doing this for weeks. He knew he needed to fix it. He just didn't know how right now. The trial was set to start in a few days and he knew he'd be working with Renee every spare minute until then.

Kelly knew he had to talk to Stella and apologize for last night and the last couple of weeks. He wasn't interested in Renee and while her son was great, Kelly wasn't trying to get too attached.

As Kelly packed his overnight bag, he thought about grabbing Stella a coffee and a muffin. Maybe if he started with a peace offering, things would calm down and they could get back on track. It was worth a try.


	5. Chapter 5

Wake up! Stella, you have to open your eyes! Open your eyes NOW!

Her eyes flew open and she jerked her head to sit up. Big mistake.

Pain. That is all she felt. Hot, searing pain like she was being stabbed with hot pokers. She looked around but didn't understand what she was seeing. She was expecting to see her bedroom. Instead she was in her car. At least what used to be her car. She tried to turn her head to get a better sense of her surroundings, but the excruciating pain in her head and neck made that move impossible. She brought her right hand to her forehead. Sticky. Blood. Some dry but some not which meant the wound had only recently stopped bleeding. She gently moved her fingers over her left eyebrow. She felt the open and what felt like a gaping wound. She gingerly tried to assess the injury. It started at the left brow and extended up to her scalp. It was about 4 inches long, wet, sticky and painful.

"Ok,"she said out loud. "Ok. I got into an accident and I hit my head. Ok, I can figure this out."

She knew she had to evaluate the rest of her potential injuries. Since she couldn't move her head too much, she tried to look as best as she could. Naturally, she first tried to wiggle her toes. Right side ok. Left side, not so much. She looked down and saw the deflated air bag. But then she looked to the left, and knew why she was in to much pain. The left side of the car, the side where she was sitting, was essentially gone. It was pushed so far in that most of her body had been pushed to the center of the front passenger area. The steering column was no longer front and center, but rather, down and twisted. The pain in her chest and right side ribs told her she had slammed into it at some point. The front and left side of the car were crushed in, completely pinning her left leg. She couldn't tell how badly her leg was injured; the slightly movement sent a wave of pain from her hip downward. It was unlike anything she had felt.

Ok, leg's bad. What else we got? She glanced down at her left arm which was pretty much trapped between her body and the crushed door. There were large shards of glass sticking to the arm of her jacket like a porcupine, but thankfully, her coat was puffy enough to have protected her arm from any major damage. However, she was stuck.

Shit. What the hell happened?


	6. Chapter 6

Kelly arrived at 51, right at 8:00 and walked to the briefing room for the shift meeting. As he stood in the back, holding Stella's coffee and a bag with her favorite, he noticed that Stella wasn't seated up front. He looked around. She wasn't there. Maybe she's running late, he thought.

The meeting ended and still no Stella. He stopped by the common room. He dropped the coffee and muffin on a table and headed to the locker room. On his way, he stopped by Casey's office.

"Hey, Matt. Did Stella call out today?"

"No. She's didn't come in with you?" Casey asked.

" Uh no. I'll call her." He said as he reached for his phone. "Maybe she overslept."

Kelly dialed Stella's number. It rang a few times.

"Hey, it's Stella. Leave a message." Her voicemail message said.

"Hey, Stella, it's me. Where are you? You're late for your shift. Call me."


	7. Chapter 7

Stella heard a ring tone. It was the one she set for Kelly. She turned her head to look for her phone and immediately regretted doing it. Ok, she thought. Ok. I can do this. The ring sounded like it was coming from behind her. Ok, how am I going to do this? There was no space between the front seats. The drivers seat was half way on top of the passenger seat and she couldn't physically maneuver her body to reach back to even feel around. The phone stopped ringing.

I'm late, she thought. It's morning. I'm supposed to be at 51. Fear suddenly gripped her. It was morning. The last thing she could remember was leaving Kelly's place around 2:20 am. She looked up, through the shattered windshield. Trees, she thought. I'm surrounded by trees. She started to breathe heavily but stopped quickly because of the pain in her ribs. Where am I? How did I get her? What the hell happened?


	8. Chapter 8

Kelly opened his locker and shoved his bag in. He heard Cruz, Brett, Mouch and Herrmann in the other side where their lockers were located. He walked around.

"Hey, Herrmann? Did you see Stella this morning?"

"Kidd? Naw. Her car was gone when I left. I thought she headed out early. She's not here yet?"

"No. I haven't seen her. She's not answering her phone."

"Huh, that's weird," said Herrmann. "Not like her to just not show up." The siren went off.

"Squad 3. Ambulance 61. Pin in accident 18th and Carpenter Avenue." As Kelly turned to head to the apparatus floor to gear up, Herrmann called our, "I'll ask Cindy to go check the apartment. Maybe she's sick or somethin."

"Yeah, thanks, Herrmann." Kelly knew he had to get his head straight but he knew that Stella would never just not show up for a shift. Something was wrong. Very wrong.


	9. Chapter 9

The rescue wasn't too complicated. Guy rolled his Mercedes but they managed to pry the passenger side door open, extract him safely and get him to Med. On the way back to the station, Kelly called Herrmann to see if Stella had shown up. She hadn't. So he decided to take a detour to Herrmann's house.

They rolled up and Kelly jumped out. "I'll be a minute, guys."

He walked up the front porch and rang the bell. Cindy opened the door. "Hi, Kelly. How are you? Come in." She opened they storm door.

"Oh no thanks, Cindy. We're getting back from a call and I don't want to track dirt or glass into your house. Stella didn't show up at work today. Have you seen her?"

"No, Kelly. Sorry. Christoper called awhile ago, so I went up to the apartment, but she's not there."

"Ok. Thanks. I'm gonna go check. Maybe she came in after you checked."

"Sure, you go ahead." She turned, reaching up. She handed him a lanyard with a key. "Just give that to Christopher at the station. I'm sure she's ok."

Kelly smiled and took the key. "Thanks, Cindy."

He walked around to the garage. Stella's apartment was upstairs through an interior stairway. As he opened her door, he knew she wasn't there. He walked in. Her bed was made. There were clothes in the bed. Not work clothes but casual, going-out clothes. Clothes from last night. He looked in the kitchen. There was no coffee in the pot. He looked around. Her overnight bag was gone. So maybe she did come home last night and this morning packed her bag to come into work. But what happened? Where was she? He had called her phone about half a dozen times and tried her again.

"Stella, it's Kelly. Look, if you're upset about last night, then let's talk about it. No one has heard from you and I'm getting pretty worried. If you don't want to talk to me, at least call Casey or Boden to let them know what's going on. Please."

Ok, Stella, if you are trying to get my attention, you've got it. Now where the hell are you?

The rest of the day was pretty slow. One other call for Rescue and a lot of paperwork. Not that he was doing any of it. He tried but couldn't concentrate and almost submitted a report with completely wrong information. Thankfully Casey caught it before the Chief saw it.

No one had heard from Stella. He even called Med and Lakeshore, Mercy and Kindred. No Stella and no "Jane Does" matching her description.

Kelly looked up when he heard a knock on her office door. It was Gabby who has just returned from Med.

"Any word?"

"No. Nothing. Anything at Med?"

"No. No one there has seen her. It may be a long shot, but call Antonio. It's too early for a missing persons report, but he's got a lot of contacts. Maybe he can help."

"That's a good idea. Thanks, Gabby."

He pulled out his cellphone and called Antonio to see if they could meet. Kelly was willing to try anything.


	10. Chapter 10

Stella? Stella? Wake up, girl. You gotta get up. Come on!

Stella slowly opened her eyes. It had become harder and harder to try to fight to stay awake. She passed out after a few minutes of trying to reach her cell phone after learning that it wasn't in her purse as she had hoped. She hadn't heard it ring in a while. Battery probably died. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious but she knew it was getting late in the day.

She was starting to remember what happened. Bits and pieces were coming back. She had left Kelly's place angry. It was late and she knew she had to get up early for shift, but she was too pissed to sleep. So she got in her car and started driving south. She needed to clear her mind.

Stella wasn't, by nature, a jealous person. Nor did she consider herself insecure, yet that was clearly what Kelly thought. Why couldn't he see what Renee was doing? He had to realize that she was still hung up on him.

"I mean, there are hundreds of firefighters in Chicago. Why did it have to be Kelly?" She thought. Why? So he could spend time with her and her kid and play "happy family. The worst part was that Kelly seemed to like it. He may not have been at Renee's place to see her son, but he was certainly getting attached to him.

And Stella was angry. Ever since she moved out of Kelly's apartment, they almost never saw each other outside of work. He made her feel like she was being unreasonable for wanting to be with him.

Stella realized she was gripping the wheel a bit too hard. She also saw that her speed had hit 85 mph. Even though she was on the freeway, she couldn't afford a ticket like that.

She took a deep breath. She hated this. She hated being mad at Kelly and this whole situation. Yes, he was hanging out with Renee, but to help her help injured firefighters and get new safety protocols in place. What he was doing was a good thing. She should and did encourage him to do it. She hated that she felt jealous. Did she think Kelly was going to fall back in love with Renee? She didn't really know. She knew that Kelly was more about "living in the moment" rather than planning for a future and right now "living in the moment" means spending a ton of time with Renee and the son-that-could-have-been-Kelly's. She knew that when he found out Renee was pregnant and that she said it was his, he was ready to move in and marry her. What if he was starting to feel like she was the one that got away.

Again, Stella had to released her grip on the wheel. "Stella, Kelly is with you. He wants to be with you. Once this case is over in a few weeks, things will go back to normal."

She still felt badly about the fight, though. That last jab about the "family dinner" was just mean and so unlike her. She needed to apologize and it had to be the first chance she got in the morning. They needed to talk it out with their tempers in check. "I know. I'll get up early, grab a coffee for Kelly and meet him at his place before shift."

With a plan in place, she felt better. She took the next exit so that she could turn around and head home. She didn't see the car coming up behind her like a fast-moving tank. She never even had a chance to get out of the way.


	11. Chapter 11

"Chief, if it's ok, I'm gonna head over to PD to see if Antonio can help find Stella. I've got my radio." Kelly said to Chief Boden.

"Yeah, go. Let me know if you hear anything." Boden responded

"I will, thanks." Kelly turned and left Boden's office.

Kelly got in his car and headed to PD. When he met up with Antonio, Antonio peppered him with questions.

"When was the last time you saw her? Did you speak to her after you saw her? When she left your place last night, where was she headed? Has she ever missed a shift without calling in? Did you two have a disagreement or fight?"

That last question got to him. "Yeah we had a fight but she would never not call out for a shift. Fight or no fight, she'd show up or call."

"I don't know, Kelly. Maybe she doesn't want to see you. Maybe she's laying low somewhere. Maybe she's not calling anyone to make you worry about her. To punish you."

"Hold on, Antonio. That's not Stella. If she was pissed at me, she'd just avoid me all shift. It's happened before and we work on different rigs. Yeah the firehouse is small, but it's not that small. I'm telling you, her disappearing means something is wrong."

"Look, Kelly, I understand you're worried. I can file an official report until she's been missing for 48 hours, but I can run her credit cards, ATM card and see if we can get a last location on her cell phone." Said Antonio.

"Man, that would be great. Anything that might help me find her would be great."

"Ok, hang out for a minute."

Kelly called Chief to let him know what was going on and ask for the rest of his shift off. Chief agreed. He would put Cruz in charge and get a floater in for the rest of the shift.

After that Kelly relaxed a little. He was relieved but thankful he didn't have to divide his attention between work and Stella. He had also been dodging messages from Renee. With everything going on, he needed to focus on finding Stella.

Kelly grabbed his phone and responded to Renee. "An emergency came up. Talk later" he texted her. He had hoped she would accept that and leave him alone but she started texting him nonstop.

"What happened"

"Anything I can do"

"Can u talk"

"Do u think u can come by later"

"I found a new witness. I need u to review his stmt"

"Kelly, I haven't heard from u. Getting worried"

"Call/text when u can"

When Antonio came back almost an hour later, Kelly was anxious but hopeful.

"Ok, no ATM withdrawals and no activity on her credit cards. We've also been able to triangulate a possible location of her cell phone." Antonio pulled out a Google maps print out.

"Ok. There a cell tower here, here, and here." He marked the 3 locations with a red "X". Her cell phone is somewhere in the area," he says as he indicated with a circle on the map.

"Any way to narrow the search location?" Kelly asked.

"This is the best we could do. This is a fairly wooded area. We are hoping she and her phone are close to the road. Maybe she had car trouble or was tired and pulled over. I'm sending a unit over there now to see if they find anything."

"Thanks, Antonio. I'm gonna head over there myself. With any luck, we'll find her." Kelly stood up, shook Antonio's hand and got up to leave. He texted Chief and Casey to let them know what he had found out and where he was going.


	12. Chapter 12

Stella tried to remember where she had exited the freeway, but she hadn't really been paying attention to where she was going in the first place.

She remembered that the truck behind her took the same exit, but she realized too late that he was coming up too fast. She tried to swerve to the shoulder to get out of the way, but the truck smashed in to rear bumper on the driver's side, sending her off the shoulder and down a short embankment. She remembered hitting the first tree almost head in. It's a wonder she wasn't killed instantly. She must have lost conscious because she didn't know what else happened. From what she could see, she after she hit the first tree, she must have bounced off and hit a second or third tree. Who knows how many but the last tree she hit was right outside the driver's window. She was thankful that her car had lost momentum by the time he hit this tree or the damage to her car, and her body, would have been much worse.

She couldn't see the road. She thought she could hear traffic sounds but they sounded far off. Since she had been there most of the night and most of the day with no rescue, she deduced that: (1) the asshole that hit her kept going and didn't call 911; (2) no one else saw the accident; and (3) no one could see her mangle car from the street.

She was trapped in her car, likely bleeding internally, with a serious concussion. And no one was coming.


	13. Chapter 13

Kelly started driving south on 55. He hoped that Antonio was right and maybe she ran out of gas or something on the shoulder somewhere. He figured she had to be near a road since her Hyundai wasn't likely to go off-road.

He headed about 20 minutes outside of Chicago towards Willow Springs. The map Antonio gave him showed an area close to the Arie Crown Forest Preserve. He thought his best bet was to drive by gas stations or fast food places near that area. As he approached the interchange passed Hodgkins, he took the exit. He debated driving around the interchange but decided to continue straight toward the Preserve. It was late and dark and fortunately, the traffic was light. He drove the access road adjacent to a wooded area and he slowed down to scan the tree line on the right side of the road, thinking he might see her car in the grass on the side of the road. It wasn't easy without street lights but he thought he would be able to spot something as big as a car. As he was approaching a metal guardrail, he thought he saw something, something out of place, but he was driving too fast and the shoulder was too narrow for him to pull over. He would need to loop back around, but he was familiar enough with this stretch of road to know that would take him miles out of his way, so he hit the button for his hazard lights, slowed down to a stop and hoped for the best. He quickly got out of his car and opened the trunk where he kept a flashlight. He then started to walk back to end of the guardrail. He swept the beam from the flashlight over the ground, trying to find what he saw. As he walked beyond the guardrail, into the grass, he tripped. The guardrail was dividing the road from a steep embankment which then sloped upward towards the tree line. He wasn't prepared for the abrupt dip and lost his footing. As he got up, his light scanned over something. He found it and walked over. It was a piece of plastic…from a bumper. He couldn't tell the exact color but it was dark enough to maybe match Stella's car. He hoped he wasn't just "wishful thinking" and this wasn't just a piece of road trash that had been there for weeks.

Then he noticed the tire tracks. They looked fresh and led up towards the trees, which is where he started to walk.


	14. Chapter 14

Stella had lost consciousness. She is dreaming. In her dream, she was walking in a circular clearing in a forest surrounded by trees. She's wearing a long-sleeved, long white gauzy dress. She's barefoot. She has a wreath of flowers on her head. She's gliding on the grass. She feels centered. She is at peace. She is moving towards something but doesn't know what.

"Stella."

She turns around. It's Kelly. He's dressed in a blue suit. It brings out his eyes. He's smiling at her and reaching out his hand.

"Come on."

She smiled at him. He looks so handsome.

"Where are we going?"

She looked down for a split second. She looked up, still smiling.

Kelly wasn't in a suit anymore. He was in his turnout gear and helmet. She looked around. They were surrounded by flames. Everything was on fire. He reached out a gloved hand. He said something but his mask was muffling his words.

"What? Kelly, what are you saying? I can't understand."

In her dream, she started to back away from him. She heard someone calling her name but they were far away. "Stella… Stella…"

"Stella, come on. Stella, wake up, baby. Wake up."

"What? Why are you saying that, Kelly."

"Come with me. We have to get out of here." Kelly muffled.

"Kelly, you should come in here with me," Stella said beckoning him. The clearing she was in, was perfectly calm, quiet and unscathed. It seemed like it was in a bubble, protected from everything. Where Kelly stood was chaos, smoke and burning trees. No, she wanted to stay where she was. But she wanted Kelly with her.

"Kelly, come in here with me."

Kelly took off his mask, his face smudge with black soot. "Stella, I can't come in there with you. You have to come out with me. Please…Stella. Open your eyes. Come on, baby. Wake up."

Stella heard Kelly's voice. It almost sounded like it was coming from a loud speaker with the volume turned all the way down so she could barely make out the words being said. She desperately wanted to open her eyes but she couldn't move. She couldn't open her eyes. "Kelly, I'm here." She thought. "Please help me."

Kelly quickly made his way to the tree line. His flashlight skimmed over the tire tracks and led him to a tree that looked like it had been hacked down with a screwdriver. It was gouged and splintered. There was further destruction past this tree and he continued into the forest. He car was about 50 feet from the road, up a hill and hidden by the trees.

He ran around to the passenger side.

"Stella! Stella!"

Kelly pried open the passenger door. He was able to reach in and touch Stella. She head was bloody and her skin ashen. He bent down and put his ear to her face, praying he heard or felt something. It was cold but he was still opening to feel her warm breathe. He waited. He didn't hear or feel a breath. She didn't move.

"Stella, please. Open your eyes. Come on, baby. Wake up."

Her head moved. It was slight but it moved.

"Open your eyes, Stella."

She made a small noise. Her eyes slowly opened.

"Kelly. You came. You found me."

"I found you, baby. Let's get you out of here, ok?"


	15. Chapter 15

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The soft, steady beeping from the heart monitor machine woke Stella. She was groggy and her eyes felt like they were filled with mud, heavy and gummy. As she tried to open her eyes, she became aware of the pain...she no longer felt. She was still in some discomfort but the stabbing, lightening hot pain was gone.

Stella groaned as she tried to fully wake up.

"Stella? Baby, are you awake?" She heard Kelly say. She then heard, quieter and further away, "Excuse me? Can you get Dr. Bekker? I think Stella's waking up."

"Stella, can you open your eyes?" Kelly asked, laying his hand in top of hers.

Stella turned her head slightly towards Kelly's voice. She slowly opened her eyes. The room was dimly lit but she could still see Kelly as clear as day.

"Hey you." She said softly. Kelly gently grasped her hand, leaned down and kissed Stella's forehead.

"Hi. I'm glad you're finally awake. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been hit by a truck."

"Close but not quite," Kelly responded.

Stella tried to figure out the damage to her body. "Ok, you tell me how I'm doing."

"You've been better but it's not as bad as it could have been. You want to wait did the doctor?"

"No. Just tell me." Stella was more alert now. She figured she was groggy from the meds they were giving her but fought to clear her head. She needed to hear this.

"Well, you have a concussion. The lac on you head will require plastic surgery. They weren't able to close it properly since it had been open for more than 8 hours. You have a few cracked rigs and a bruised sternum."

"How's my leg? Wait!" She said looking down at the blanket and seeing something strange where her leg should be. "do I still have a leg?"

"Yes, but it's pretty bad. Broken ankle, compound fracture of the tibia." You've got a plate in your ankle and screws holding you leg together. You've got a ring fixator from you knee all the way down. There's a lot of muscle and tendon damage. Some nerve damage. Dr. Bekker can give you a better idea."

Stella pulled the edge of the blanket to expose her leg. It looked like something from Frankenstein. Swollen, bruised and screwed to a ring. She had seen this before but it's something else seeing screws poking into her skin. At least I still had a leg, she thought.

"How long have I been here?"

"Four days. They had you pretty sedated most of the time though. And you've been on some heavy duty antibiotics. How do you feel,Stella?"

"It doesn't hurt as much. It's more like a dull ache all over."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah. Hit and run. It was late and I probably wasn't paying as close attention as I should have." Stella said with a grimace as she tried to shift her body to sit up.

Kelly reached over and fixed the pillows behind her and raised the bed for her.

"Stella."

She looked up at him."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of this."

"Kelly, this wasn't your fault. I was mad and I should have just gone home. I'm sorry we got into a fight. I hate fighting with you."

"Me too. We'll figure this out."

Dr. Bekker came in.

"Hello Stella. How are you feeling today?" Dr. Bekker approached the bed, took her stethoscope off her neck so she could listen to Stella's breath sounds.

"Sounds good. How's the pain in your leg?"

"It's ok. When can I get this thing off?"

"About 6 weeks."

"6 weeks?! Are you kidding me?"

"Stella, there a lot a damage here. You're going to need a lot of physio to have even a chance at full function."

"Full function? What does that mean? Am I going to be able to go back to work?"

Dr. Bekker put on a pair of latex gloves and pulled back the blanket, exposing Stella's damaged leg. She gently examined the sutures and pins for any sign of infection.

"I can't offer a medical opinion about that right now. You're young, you're physically fit. That will go a long way to your overall recovery. I can tell you, it will be at least 8 weeks before you can even be evaluated and based on the extent of the injury, it's more likely to be 12 weeks." Dr. Bekker said, as she removed her gloves.

"A nurse will be in the clean and change your bandages. If you continue to progress, you might be able to go home by the end of the week." Bekker nodded at Kelly and turned to leave.

Stella sat there stunned. 3 months! She wasn't going to be able to work for 3 months. What was she going to do for money? This was an off-the-job injury. It wasn't going to be covered by workers comp. how was she going to pay rent, buy groceries? She didn't have a car! How was she going to get around?

Overwhelmed, Stella slumped on the pillows, tears forming.

"Hey Stella. It's ok. We'll figure it all out. For starters, I want you to move back in with me. You're going to need someone to take care of you."

"Kelly, no. I can manage. I'll figure it all out."

"Stella." Kelly firmly took her hand which caused her to look up at him. "Let me take care of you. You don't have to go through this alone. You have me and I want to help you through this. Please."

Stella looked into his eyes. After everything she had been through, convinced that she would probably die in the mangled car, Kelly had been the one to find her. He hadn't given up on her. He knew something had happened and didn't stop until her found her. Yes, everything that he did to find her, everything he had done for her for the months before they even got together showed her that she could depend on him. He wasn't going to run. He was going to be there for her. He wanted to take care of her. Maybe it was about time she let him.


End file.
